The Case of Missing Yemeni Babies: 400,000 Vanished in Israel since 1950s

Yemenite Jews are shown en route from Aden to Israel during Operation Magic Carpet, 1950. (Photo: File)

Israel last week made public a database of 400,000 Jewish Yemeni children that have disappeared since the 1950s, the Times of Israel reported.

When mass migration from different parts of the world into Israel began in the 1950s, there were many cases of babies being kidnapped from hospitals and refugee camps. This was especially common amongst Yemeni Jews. Babies were usually put up for adoption either inside Israel or abroad.

The Israeli authorities usually refused to investigate further and dismissed the cases. It was very common that the Israeli authorities would claim the kidnapped babies died in the hospital and close the case.

Bodies were not shown to the parents and locations of burials were not given. Many suspected that this was part of a conspiracy to ensure the Ashkenazi branch of Judaism, which is mostly followed by Jews of a European heritage, remains the most dominant in Israel.

“For close to 60 years, people did not know the fate of their children, in a few minutes any person can access the pages containing all the information that the government of Israel has,” Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu said.

(MEMO, PC, Social Media)

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